Expect to see more of both candidates as they scramble for state voters' cash, attention and support

Carla Marinucci, EXAMINER POLITICAL EDITOR

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, June 2, 1996

1996-06-02 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- Sen. Bob Dole will return to California twice in the next month to raise $2 million in what Republican leaders say will be "an aggressive, expensive" campaign to blunt President Clinton's lead in the polls here.

Dole, who this past week made his first California campaign swing since the March 26 primary, has scheduled another trip in mid-June. He also plans to raise $2 million July 2 at a San Francisco lunch and a Los Angeles dinner, California state GOP chair John Herrington said.

The Kansas senator's California campaign will be aided by his wife, Elizabeth, who begins a weeklong trip Monday with a speech at Amdahl Corp. in Sunnyvale. She is scheduled to speak to 100 executives in Silicon Valley - a fund-raising stronghold for Clinton - and to travel from Redding to Los Angeles.

Herrington said Dole's July 2 fund-raisers would bolster a $20 million national media campaign planned through August, when the party holds its national convention in San Diego.

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"The gauntlet is down," an upbeat Herrington said Friday at a Washington, D.C., strategy meeting with GOP national chair Haley Barbour and state party leaders.

"It will be an aggressive, expensive campaign - and you can expect to see the candidate out here in force."

Dole's trip from Redondo Beach to Sacramento this past week got mixed reviews and was dogged by Democrats, who quickly responded to his attacks on Clinton in areas such as crime and drug policies.

Clintons' continued attention

The Democrats plan to counter by keeping the president and the first lady active in delegate-rich California - with 54 electoral votes, the largest take in the nation.

Hillary Clinton has just finished a north-to-south visit, her 27th statewide. The president, who has made 23 trips to California since his election, plans to visit the state, including a Northern California stop, next weekend. The Clintons' attention to the state is part of the reason the president leads Dole by 20 percentage points in public opinion polls.

Ken Khachigian, the newly appointed senior advisor to the Dole campaign, says "the best sign for us" is Dole's plan to return so quickly.

"He felt good about the (recent) trip," Khachigian said. "It accomplished everything I wanted - which was get out here after his resignation from the Senate . . . and make it clear California's in play. What people saw was an active, big-travel schedule, a good message and good receptions. . . . It was one round in a 15-round fight."

Dole, the Senate majority leader, has announced he'll resign his seat, which he has held for 27 years, by June 11 to run full time for the presidency.

"They're behind in Florida, Louisiana, Ohio - and they haven't even gotten to the point of adequately rallying the Republican base," responded Bill Carrick, the Democratic strategist who runs Clinton's California campaign.

"We should be so lucky that they will spend a lot of money in California," Carrick said. "I want to see President Clinton re-elected - so it's fine if they spend money here and divert it from the swing states in the South."

Carrick said Dole, who attended a $5,000-a-head Sacramento fund-raiser during this past week's trip, planned more "typical East Coast take-the-money-and-run scenarios . . . (but) that's not really a test of commitment to this state."

Trip a "morale booster'

Political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe said Dole's trip, shaved from three days to 27 hours, probably hadn't helped him much with California voters.

"(But) it was a morale booster to the Republican Party . . . something the Clinton campaign has to strategize on," she said. "They're going to have to spend more money, more time and ship a few of their resources away from more competitive states. Dole is making noises."

Herrington said GOP state chairs, invited by Barbour to Washington last week to shape research and media before the GOP convention, took Khachigian's appointment as a good sign.

"Ken is a hardball California experienced political operative, and it will be a whole new campaign," Herrington said. "He brings experience, message, and - more importantly - he knows where the votes are in California."

But Carrick said Dole's message - not his advisors - were what counted. He said Democrats had blunted Dole's criticisms of the president by responding rapidly at every stop of his tour.

"Every time he comes, it will happen," Carrick said.

"It was very effective. (Dole) can't just come out and say anything he wants. . . . He will have to be scrutinized."

"The rally I put together in Ontario is just the kind of thing he needs to be doing," said Sen. Bill Leonard, R-Redlands. "He can introduce himself . . . (to) a lot of folks who haven't seen him close up."

"He has to be more visible," said Assemblyman Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga. "(Voters) know Bill Clinton, and I think they're relatively uneasy with having him as president - but they don't know Bob Dole that well."

But Sen. Ken Maddy of Fresno, a moderate Republican, said Dole needed to plan his events better.

"The kinds of things he did this week - where he comes in and has 110 guards, and he's blocked off, and the protesters know he's there . . . it would almost be better if they were low-key," Maddy said. "Candidly, I would like to have him . . . visit every one of the media centers of this state (and) give more time of himself to members of the media so they could get some idea of what he's like."

Herrington said that was exactly what top Republicans meeting in Washington wanted Dole to do next.

"We have spent two days now reviewing research among American voters - and it's clear that when people know about Bob Dole, we win the election," Herrington said.

"We've gone over message and what we have to do to win. And now we're going to come up with a very aggressive media campaign to do it." &lt;

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